_NON-TEACHING WEEKS 1 DESIGN AS CULTURAL ACTIVITY Option 1. Suppress toxicity and block it (reject the culture)
Exercise. 1. Cultural heritage as an unconscious influence on design. Culture to me is also the accumulation of beliefs, customs and externalenvironment influences I ‘grew up with’. I hardly ever insert MalaysianChinese cultural elements into my projects (never, I think), because I feel I have no set culture. This is due to having moved from town to town, and later, migrating overseas. The longest time we have stayed in one place is ongoing- currently 7 years so far. Resolving studio problems were always incorporating Aboriginal or contemporary Australian ‘pop culture’ and social trends, rather than looking to my past for influence.
Option 2. Amplify the ‘culture’. (obsess over it)
3. The position of culture in contemporary modernism does give some influence over design but as someone who has very little knowledge of having one specific ‘set culture’ and grew up with multiple, I think it is not necessary in design. It could be necessary if the design brief needs the project to be respectful to the neighbourhood or area profile, but this is a very minor aspect as to what makes a project ‘good’ or fulfilling for both designer and the users. The extent these can interact can vary depending on brief but again, not necessary. Technology could be seen as a ‘culture’, but it is more acknowledged on a global scale, so it would be a requirement of the process rather than a specific culture in itself. But indication of successful cultural building in modern context is if the building respects its context, whether it be contributing back to the community, or is a landmark/icon of the community, or it is simply built from local materials(thus supporting the community). • • •
respect iconizes supports/contributes to a beneficial degree
Cabin Rones by Sanden+Hodnekvam Architects, has a compacted footprint and respects and adapts to the changing vegetation and site context. It’s also of contemporary Scandinavian architecture trend and being in Norway, this really does support the community making it a successful cultural project.
2. Country of birth: Malaysia. I don’t know much about either Malaysia or Australian culture, but there is the ever excessive competitive ‘kiasukiasi-ness’- hokkien for ‘scared of things, scared until die’. It’s a mentality almost similar to FOMO, but focuses on the subject trying to not just be included, but overachieve and succeed above others. If I have to design a space for people like these, there are 2 options: to reduce the toxicity and suppress triggers that cause this emotion in the culture, or to amplify it so everyone becomes incredibly toxic and try to outdo each other (in a single enclosed room with no escape, preferably) until they reach a state of ‘loss’ (because they are disabled from competing) or reach death, essentially. (Refer to sketches/diagrams) As an afterthought from the exercise and lecture, I guess ‘having no culture’ can also be a culture in itself, despite being an unpopular opinion. It is still a factor that allows people to identify having a sense of belonging regardless.
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